Mame Ngagne Study II 2010 - 2012

Curator: First impression? The figure just radiates…confidence. But against such a flamboyant background. It's arresting. Editor: Agreed. This is Kehinde Wiley's "Mame Ngagne Study II", painted between 2010 and 2012. Wiley, of course, is celebrated for placing contemporary Black figures in settings traditionally reserved for European aristocracy, painted using oil on canvas. It provokes immediate questions about representation and power. Curator: Absolutely, and what I love is how he disrupts those historical visual languages. I mean, he’s taken the grand scale of history painting, and then throws in this riot of color and pattern – those almost cartoonish mums – to totally re-contextualize everything. Does that pole or staff perhaps represent how the colonial-era aristocracy held positions of power? Editor: Precisely! The choice of the young man’s pose, and indeed his clothing, combined with the floral backdrop all work together in order to contest and subvert historical notions of race, gender, and power. The young man, clad in contemporary sportswear, confronts the viewer's gaze head-on. His casualness becomes an assertion. What does that assert for you? Curator: He asserts pride, and self-possession in this space, that to me feels deeply radical, especially when you consider who traditionally got to occupy these canvases. He holds that staff almost as a shield of protection. It speaks of resilience. Also, notice that it blends right into the chrysanthemum patterns in the background. That makes me think. Perhaps the individual holding on to his community roots in an ever changing social, racial, and political landscape. Editor: Yes, his individual identity merging into a complex community fabric, creating new narratives from the threads of the old, and maybe creating new spaces. Wiley seems to constantly explore, redefine, and perhaps reclaim the black male body through the lens of art history. Curator: Well said. It really does leave you pondering on art, identity, and who gets to be seen. Editor: A truly thought-provoking piece for the contemporary canon.